time when donald trump on our state 17000000000%. [laughter] >> all programs are available on c-span.org. either honor home page or by searching the library. >> republican study committee and freedom caucus are two groups that develop policies in the legislative agenda for congressional republicans. we talked to the cheers of the organizations on "washington journal". this is 40 minutes.e >> joining us or to republicans to talk about their perspectives on policy and the agendas they hope to achieve in this congress. were joined by mark walker, republican of north carolina, the chair of the republican study committee and also by mark meadows, the head of this ca freedom caucus and a representative of north carolina. thank you for joining us.dom c

>> we hear these terms study committee, could you give a perspective on what it means to be part of this body with republican study committee? >> it's a pleasure to be a clue today, in 19731973 the republicans did a study committee. it was a group of a small caucus to make sure the principles of people who believed in conservative ideology would be heard. as fiscal responsibility making sure tax reform and to make sure we held our government accountable. the group has fluctuated at cha times but were privileged to be the chair of the committee turn the trust of our colleagues and make sure that we do more than just talk about the needs of this country and government we want to put action steps. >> comedy members? >> between hundred 55 andd hundred 60. the freedom caucus, what is that? >> about two years ago a group

of nine of us got together that wanted to talk about policy and wanted to make sure that weions voted on issues that millions of americans believe that washington, d.c. has has forgotten. we establish the group started with nine, grew to 40. as we looked at that we believed we brought a voice to moms and dads, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews that our main street that feel like that capital right there doesn't listen to them. was more about pushing for thecy conservative agenda that promoted job growth.ou have when we look at that the key key component is set as we work together you have two rules, you have to be able say yes to your leadership and have to to be of say no to your leadership. sometimes i can be difficult.

so about representing the will of the people. >> your viewers can call and ask questions of these gentlemen. does that mean that both of your various groups will work the same at an issue at every instance? >> sometimes we do. in fact chairman walker in a are working closely together both on the repeal and replacement of the affordable care act. as well as tax reform. when you look at those issues it's a group of conservatives getting together and maybe the tactics we employ to get that, accomplished are different, but many times we are one mind on policy. >> sometimes he say yes and no

to leadership, how long does leadership say yes to the principles you want to propose? >> that's a work in progress. there's a few things that we agree on with budgeting and ipep believe were on the same page of the more we can get things done for the american people. >> a back to the leadership, do they agree with you many issues? >> i think part of our job is to make sure were representing the people to the fullest extent possible. sometimes leadership will not agree with us but we don't start from an adversary position. her proactive but we understand that there's going to be disagreements. having to maneuver is one of our goals. >> joining us this morning it deals with the topic of healthcare.republic says the house freedom caucus and member of the republican study wants to see data repeal

bill. can you give an explanation of that? >> -chairman walker and i worked together to make sure that we not only repeal but we looked at the replacement plan. what happened in our position- o has been that you need to go by those with separate vehicles. but do those the same same day and same week to give assurance to the american people. the repeal plus plan is about trying to put in parts of the replacement with budgetconcern reconciliation. it starts to really bogged down in the details of the replacement more so than the m fact that we made a campaignpair promise or president trout made a campaign promise to repeal the affordable care act. it's more of a focused approach on trying to make sure we're

good to the american people of the filler campaign process. >> from the committee's perspective is an idea of repeal and replace that synonymous or could it take place in stages? was the preferred statements? >> while removing for if you go back to 2015 in preparing for fiscal year 2016 the house passed an obama care repeal but only six of the two and 19 provisions. the senate rejected, what were asking us to get back to the baseline making sure federal mandates, 70% of the members have been elected running on oba promises on what they would do, we want to make sure we fulfill the promises to the people. and the original part, how does that mesh with leaderships of w what to be with the repeal and replace? >> they been on a journey as well to figure out the biggest

piece of legislation we sleeman in our lifetime. it's a complex situation. it's like having a couple ofd gi children. you have one child in one bedroom and destroy the bedroom but you hold the child responsible for fixing everything, that's whatt republicans have to do. we hear there is some kind of repair plus coming out.on the we want to fulfill these to mako sure jenna appeal is on the books. the best place to start is with budget reconciliation. >> so what might leadership. >> i think leadership has a different tactic right now. the repeal plus is not that you would necessarily disagree with some of the things going in the from my conversations with the t upper chamber the plus part becomes very problematic getting it passed even with the republican majority of 50 - 51 votes.tr

looking at trying to make sure we repeal it and get that done. we should put on the president'' desk no less than what we put on president obama's desk a few months ago.t, if in doing that if we do that everybody is taking a vote on anybody other than just the new freshman coming in has taken a vote we need to put that on the president's desk. then we can focus on the terms of the replacement hopefully the same day. >> the first call comes from call in pennsylvania, go ahead, you're on. >> caller: hello gentlemen.in i want to change the subject if i can. here in pennsylvania along with several other states, we are onr the verge of leaving a constitutional right of travel. under the president's administration is going to be

put into full effect. my son fought the iraq war, he's disabled. sometimes if i'm available a bill go in to clubs and the virginia facility. i want to be able go -- i won't be allowed to fly about nine months from now the citizens ofx this country and five or six states deserve the conservative to protect our constitutionalhi rights to repeal it or we change it. the state should have the power to control and to allow me to travel freely within side the united states. >> thank you for your call. really when we look at the, oneo of those laws as we look at the idea, you can broke up a little bit on the question.rs

from what i understand it has to do more with immigration than anything else. the difference in state id versus some of the others and the ability to make sure they are authentic in their nature from a national security standpoint we have that. there's a movement to make sure that we have proper ids. the ability for u.s. citizens to move from state to state is not only constitutional right butp something the american people would not put up with. it's one of the things that makes us unique is a country is the freedom of travel. i would say that not only conservatives. i don't don't want to speak for chairmanan walker.somethin were united in the fact that constitutional rights the founding fathers put forth is something we will stand up in a pole. if they are challenged will find

a unified voice and making surea we fight back. >> if you summarize the question. >> it was about the travel between states and not being limited. >> i haven't heard anything about any concerns. i will add this, we have an opportunity to represent people from all background's and and walks of life. recently after the executive order the travel ban was put out there. we met with some muslim american community leaders. we have great relationships as j americans. we need to protect thei' constitutional rights as of any other american. >> let's go to the democrats line.at >> caller: good morning. i have a question i've always wondered, what to republicans mean when they say middle america, working-class people were forgotten. thought

also, in my thought is, your say white folk were forgotten. in my thing is, because you are afraid of being in the minority in the coming years and your freda brown people being in the majority.. the other thing is, when are you all going to admit and realize that we crazy man as president of the united states? when when are you all going to stand up and admit that he does not know what he's doing. when that we are, before you know it we are going to be at war with somebody. >> yankee for the call this morning. over the years must a i haveve been a vocational pastor. we have been blessed to work in

places like cleveland, new york, baltimore, baltimore and later this month were doing something we don't think it's been done before, were bringing in 67 -- presidents to talk to things that are concerning. my wife went to a historically black college and we've continue to build bridges to make sure were not i was talking but the listening. this is nothing in the 26 month that's that's been important from day one. those are important issues. always talk about middle america, there is a mass of people that are working hard every day, their paying taxes, they've reached a place where there tired of the political correctness and government telling them what to do. if you look at the numbers, this isn't just about the presidential election. since 2009 during the obama

administration this middle america has reduced democratic governors from 28 to make 16, the state senate's that have the majority are 67 of those are republican-led. there is a reason why medical america has reached a place for the pushing back against the c overreach, it has nothing to do with color or race, middle america you'll find peoplek working hard at every walk of life. something we need to remember, it's not just about donald trump selection, it's been an upheaval we've seen the last seven or eight years. thank you for your call. i can tell you is a member of congress, i'm super sensitive to the fact that while we need to be as a nation is not people ofb color white versus brown or anything else, we need to be americans we need to love our country and supported. when you talk about those

middle-class americans that have been forgotten, it's not just there, a lot of people feel like they have been forgotten by washington, d.c. the p that's why we started our group to hopefully return the power to the people that actually matter regardless of color, race, creed or anything else and make sureil representatives actually represent the will of the people. press we are committed to doing. when i look back i was in normandy and i look at on a hill there, all across the hill on normandy, there wasn't wasn't anything about the color of the individual, the only marker inet terms of whether it was a christian or jew was right there in terms of the marker. we all believe the same red blood and what we need to do is make sure we all cheer for the

red, white, blue. >> brat. >> brad in pennsylvania, the independent line. >> caller: good morning. i have a few questions to make, the first point is that government has somehow become absent of the truth. the truth has variables. my question for you as a publici servant is healthcare right or privilege? if you deem it a privilege, how is a constitutional free you to use tax dollars for healthcare that you provide free severe self's on you do not provide it for the rest of the american people? >> really when we look at this and talk about our unalienable rights and those of the rights that cannot be taken away from us, we look at healthcare it's not in unalienable rights is our founding fathers look at it.ha

people say healthcare is a right we should have it, i believe it's a privilege if you go across the globe you can see the privilege we enjoy in america is different than the privilege in some of our third world countries that we have visited. so when we see that it really becomes a component, how how do we make sure we provide a safety net for those that are truly in need? were compassionate company. we look at that and it's important that we do as a country provide that safety net. at the same time, your point is well taken. when you mandate things obviously offer less government control us we look at that, look more at states rights and it might be more of a libertarian view. as we we start to see that is critically important that we understand that foundation.

your point is well taken but the other part is as we look at it we become very myopic and so were only focused about those hurting around us and we have to do that in a compassionate nature. >> that's a great question.i d'' for understanding philosophically have a look at this.and what every government program there's going to be a certain population that benefit, we understand that. you can go throughout history. however for for me it is an issue of spending. if you look at the spending side we are on pace to be 80% within within few years. if you go back 50 years it was inverted. our discretionary spending on education, infrastructure infrastructure was about 27 and 20%. those members have inverted. were simply not going to be able to tax the people enough to pay these bills. talk about national debt and 70r

deficit. some place we someplace we won't build carry the dip different expenses that people feel like they're entitled to. >> a democrats line. >> hello. thank you for taking my call. i'm concerned about, do not heam both of you from the caucus and i'm a democrat so i know we have to caucus on the upside. but, how do you assess the new people moving into the white house that have no political background. how do you help reestablish the dignity and help pull them out of the chaos? this is not just republican or democrat, but when you say the word the american public, we out here don't know if you're talking about the conservative side the liberal side,

everybody? or how you look at that, is that all of us were just once on the other side of the fence? >> i appreciate the phone call. i'll take the second part of your question first.public, when we first to the american public we believe individual liberties good for all communities. pulling people out of poverty, and i referred to the american public are referred to 300 plus americans. the first part of your question, we we want to make sure there is a healthy tone. i understand sometimes the rhetoric is strong and maybe even over-the-top at times. i believe whether it's politics or ministry or relationships there should be a decency in her tone even when we have points of disagreement.ngress. from a personal standpoint i did not have political experience when i ran for congress.siness a and it i spent five or six years in business and finance and 18

or 20 years in ministry. i was concerned with the direction of our country. i don't want to rule out people that haven't spent a career in the political world they can't come to washington d.c. >> thank you so much. the american people is exactly that. it's american people whether you're registered or not, on affiliated or republican. i know for me i represent almost 800,000 people in our district every look at that, even on the campaign trail i'm not talking about the fact that i'm aprincil republican, talked about a core set of principles that should be good for democrats on affiliated republicans alike. even those that don't vote the number of people even though i represent seven and 50 to 800,000 people we only have

350,000 people vote but that doesn't mean the others don't get my representation. the other question is, how are we preparing this administration. for us, because were in congresm on the oversight committee we've done a number of briefing books that are going to different agencies there's two different groups, beachhead group and my looking at the transition period from congressional standpoint giving the mother thinks they can look at, the benefit of oversight hearings over the last for five years. that's a critical component. anytime you ramp up whether this president or the previous there is a transition time that's extremely difficult when you're trying to fill 1200 or 4000 jobs in washington, d.c. are 2.1

we must not must not forget there's 2.1 million people innga the workforce that are doing the day-to-day work that they're going on. even in spite of less than 200 political appointees we still now that we have a safe, secure country and also one that continues to work. our parks are open and all the hard work is there. >> how would you assess the first free weeks of the administration. >> probably accomplish more in the first three weeks then in the last ten months of any previous administration. when you look at substantial moves some of those are three executive orders obviously. as we look at making a firmb grh transition with this job growth or regulatory changes, very active and certainly i was saying a+ in terms of what's been accomplished.

>> i would give them strong marks when it comes to regulatory relief and things that they'll do to help small businesses. there's an energy come i do think there's some improvementss in rolling out some executive orders to be communicated tell different branches. >> the republican line, hello. >> reporter: hello. how are you doing? thank you for your service. i'm puerto rican. i'm from new york bolivia puerto rico now. i used to be a democrat all mymy life but the selection the whole family woke up. what i wanna thank you guys will not back down, keep keep forward, we're behind you 100%. and when you replay you and replace obama care please keep puerto rico a consideration. don't forget about us. you have

a lot of support from the puerto ricans. you go forward, forget about the protest. the majority of people are behind you and keep going forward. stay behind trump unless make this better for all of us.s. >> well, thank you so much for your call. my good friend is puerto rican. these are. is when my best friends in congress. you have a little bit more thano an new york accent and he does is from idaho. here's the other thing i would say. ago they talked about the difference between democrats and republicans and how we were. i can tell you, your new governor and met with just a week or two ago. very impressed that thesere willing to look at doing reforms there have the opportunity toof visit with some of your elected, officials. on repeal and replacement we will keep puerto rico and mine.

will not forget. >> that's me. i'm congratulations on i believe this is your third term. >> yes, thank you for all am a big supporter of you. a lot of the new folks, the halfbacks from florida moved up here in the community west of downtown murphy, 50 miles from the red brick on tennesseeitati, street would where you made a visit last year, sorry i missed that. i was on the tractor. to make a long story short, i support you wholeheartedly. and i have a lot of issues, you you and the other gentleman have a lot of issues up in coshington. if you go around cherokee county, north carolina which i.

[inaudible] , is a factory up in andrew's a shutdown. coach of america shutdown, we have an industrial park in the murphy area, everything is empty. everything is empty. when i moved here from florida, i was born and raised in orlando. when i moved up there there were western -- several other industries and they justa lot of disappeared. i talked to a lot of folks and i some of the other companies and the representative say i'm sorry, we just can't continue to pay you like we are and stay profitable. we have to go south of the border. >> walter, thank you so much. you are right, cherokee county

has been very good to me and very good to trump. i think we all knew where cherokee county was. let's get back to jobs. i can tell you we are working closely with the administration to not only continue the job growth you have seen in the first three weeks but also to make places like cherokee county western north carolina, you'res ready to work and it's really about two things, not so much about wages and about regulatory reduction in tax reform we can make sure the jobs that went abroad whether to leave jeans or anybody else comes back to north carolina and every state in the country.nt on th i had conversations with the vice president last night onto that topic and how it is going

to affect those people who are hardest hit. i'm looking forward to the first 200 days. i think we'll start to see the announcement of real jobs coming up. say hello. say hello to everybody and cherokee county. >> speaking as far as jobs, it looks like historically the textiles jove the economy and we have seen those jobs dissipate, is one of the reasons in our business roundtable 12 or 13 major industries talking about the genuine excitement aboute reducing the corporate rate tax and bringing back some of thoseo jobs. threat 3638% i believe there is a genuine excitement across the country that maybe this is the turning point. even with the strong comments that might come out of this

administration in a president trump has mentioned several times there's 20,000,000,000 dollar loss loss per year to mexico and other places. paying attention to these is a good thing for entire country. >> from indiana, your next. >> thank you. you guys guys are doing a good job telling he mr. trump to keep on pushing because i think he's going to do the job. the reason i think that people are still complaining they've given everything in the past eight years, they don't want to work. see you guys create jobs so more power to you, thank you very much. >> thank you so much. >> carolyn on the republican line. >> hello, i had to call in because i just heard the folks from murphy calling in.

and i actually, technically on paper i'm still a democrat but but if anybody would call me a democrat or liberal i consider those fighting words. i wanted to say that my family ordinarily voted gordon 80% democrat and 20% republican in this election we flipped. we have longtime democrats who voted for the first time for president trump i think he's doing great. i want him to know that we are behind him 100%. i'm not even watching cnn or msnbc anymore. i just want to say the reason i'm not a liberal or democrat has nothing to do with russia, it's all merkel who by the way it was out for noble peace prize when she made the statements, if you you can get here we'll take you in. i think that was part of her motivation.. the democrats who call themselves a party of women's rights have no normalized the

covering of a woman's head. i just cannot understand this unholy alliance that the democrats have with what really is the male-dominated culture parading as a religion. >> thank you so much. greetings to you and hazel and certainly clay county, we love you. one of the interesting things to sandpaper you're still a democrat, it underscores the fact that what we really need to be is about making sure we keepg the main thing the main thing. when we do that it's about jobsh and making sure your personal liberties are protected and so i can tell you whether it's having a biscuit at hardee's or anyplace else, i appreciate you reaching out.est 1: i'll pass it on to the president, you have my word. >> i lead to the when it talks

we do,being democrat republican, i believe we have about 800,000 more democrats than republicans yet we are state that president trump carey. you have to ask yourself why is that? i believe the answer is clear, we talked about the republican or democrat people reaching ins and i believe this is one of the elements we've seen across the country. >> a couple of things in the news i want your response to, the resignation of michael flynn. >> it obviously shows we have a. commander-in-chief is serious about his business. he campaigned with general flip, not only all over north carolina but in those battleground states.ua is a loyal individual. so for general flynn to step down and resign is certainlyat something i know the presidentrs

would have a hard time accepting just because of their loyalty. at the same time we have general kellogg willing to step in and were not going to miss a beat for national security standpoint. general. general kellogg has a tremendous resume. understands form policy. as we look at that if there's concerns out there for the american people there reallyerhe doesn't need to be any. this is a transition that took place.s. obviously the president has to make difficult choices. this is not the change int the t administration. when you say we have two or three waves, as as we get that and get the right mix will see more of these things. certainly at this point our n national security is in good hands. >> both of you gentlemen have been called on whether there's an investigation to general flynn's ties to russia.

>> 's well they're talking about the logan act. and that is trying to stop people like you and i from negotiating with a foreign power. it has its genesis back a long time ago.gs are some of the things that the general did inappropriate? yes. do they go and rise to the level of negotiating when you have president obama? i don't see that. even with that we haven't seen sanctions release. there hasn't been any promise to do that or any change there. as we see that perhaps there are some inappropriate conversations that took place it in terms of violating and going deeper into is not something i wouldgu support. >> my first question and i'm happy to go on record to say it was the right decision. i respect general flynn for his record and service, misleading

the vice president is something that speaks to the integrity of the position.as when it was an oversight or mishap, i believe it was the right decision for him to step down. i've not seen evidence that there is any collaboration that requires investigation at this point.ngton, d.c >> we have a guest on the independent line. >> caller: just a quick comment. so popular vote in the presidential election republicans loss. now we have a president and president trump who has thegs lowest approval ratings that is been seen by a new president. so you have no mandate. there is no mandate to repeal health care and replace it with a market base solution, remind you we were here before.

we're at this place of trickle-down economics which is where you're trying to guess back to. it doesn't work it hasn't worked before. the days of where an insurance company can discriminate against people i not provide the insurance that they're supposed to provide are many other factors. >> okay were running out of time. thank you. >> i would push back a little late but on the mandate side with these numbers. there are 3,000,000 more republican votes for legislators and the members of congress. coming off the legislative branch that writes the law i look at it as a mandate that people wanted to do somethingma with obama care. we have 11% of our population still on insured. we have mandates from

individuals, millions of people have lost insurance.look the it's not something we have to look the other way on. it's something that's impacted the american people. >> two points, one is trickle-down economics. looking. looking back to ronald reagan's time one of the elements of prosperity is when he got rid of regulations and the principal did work. we saw that go well beyond and those do work. i can tell you that anyplacemen replacement plan that we look at we will adjust pre-existing conditions. having it's not something that is right or replacement plan will be to. so it's been going up thursday%

this year. that's an unsustainable trajectory when we look at that. people having to to make a decision between paying their mortgage or pain for a healthy insurance. we have to drive those costs down.g that i until we repeal it and replace it we won't see a reduction. >> good morning, and good morning gentlemen. i'm a very strong democrat and i respect your opinion. dragalso a fiscal conservative. i was wondering if anybody ever talks about the social programs somewhat attract they are. social security, medicare, medicaid. i wonder how can you talk about cutting taxes when were about

needing a stronger army. and we haven't paid for iraq, afghanistan and yemen. we left those three in debt. so, we are living off whatever has been accumulated in the last couple of decades. thank you. i'm interested in your opinion. >> i think you make good points. welcome to the republican side. obviously were teasing you this morning. we have spent too much and is been a tough situation. when it comes to some of these programs were not trying to rip people off, were trying to save the program. if you look at medicare and social security we're both of those programs will be solventah

anymore. that's why we have to do something to reform them now. what are times we refer to them as entitlements. we want to make sure people who pay into these are protected for years to come. if we don't get our fiscal health in order towe reduce mandatory spending wewe won't be able to provide for those people who have paid in over the years. i certainly agree with you but it's something we have to take an honest look at. as 11 of the reasons is a factor in this. can we add to a dead in at another government program will we want to make sure people have >> the vice president sent out a tweet with him meeting with the freedom caucus.uc do you get the same kind of welcome. >> will about 45 minutes last week he reached out and said i'd like to talk come to the

meeting. we do not have them on the agenda but we didn't deny him the opportunity to come here. >> mark walker is the chair of the committee. also mark meadows the chair of the freedom caucus and east of the 11th district. thank you for coming on. >> later on the program, we talked to the cochair of the house progressive caucus. this is half an hour. >> our next guest is representative from arizona in the cochair of the caucus. >> of morning how are you. >> what is it mean to be a good progressive and this congress and administration? >> i think the idea of progressive ambien somewhere on the fringe of something i think